Chapter 2693: Endure, Endure, Endure
Zhang Ruochen lifted his head to look at that patch of five-colored auspicious clouds, and said with a mocking laugh, "Haha! Another defeated opponent has arrived."
Shang Zihong knew that Zhang Ruochen was deliberately provoking him, but he did not get angry at all. Instead, he seized the offensive with words: "You act crazy and wild like this, isn't it just to participate in the Ten Realms Battle?"
"Unfortunately, there is no place for you in the Heavenly Court, and likewise no place for you in the Hell Realm."
"Tell me, since you are neither human nor Undying Blood Clan, what exactly are you?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "You are the least qualified to say this to me. A thousand years ago, you were still somewhat human; now, at best, you are a human-shaped piece of stone. And what are you?"
"Step back immediately, and do not disrupt the Ten Realms Battle. Otherwise, the sacred armies of the Heavenly Palace and the Destiny Temple will surely tear you into a thousand pieces. Your Ten Realms challenge letter is nothing but a joke; no one will take it seriously." Shang Zihong deliberately said this to remind the Heavenly Palace and the Destiny Temple, hoping to use their power to kill Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen had to admit that Shang Zihong was a formidable opponent.
Originally, he had put on an air of invincibility, using words to belittle the heroes of the world, stirring up dissatisfaction among most of the cultivators present and rousing their emotions. Coupled with the impact of severely wounding Nan Sheng with a single sword strike, those self-proclaimed sacred realm powerhouses, for the sake of their own reputation and face, might very well step forward to fight him.
As long as the battle began, whether the Heavenly Palace and the Destiny Temple acknowledged his qualification or not would no longer matter.
As long as he could win, and keep winning, the position of Ten Realms Master would undoubtedly be his.
However, Shang Zihong interrupted his plan, instead trying to draw the power of the Destiny Temple and the Heavenly Palace against him.
For Zhang Ruochen, this was quite unfavorable, and he couldn't help but think about whether he should continue cursing Nan Sheng for a while longer. Cursing Nan Sheng had clearly been effective.
Zhuo Yunong walked behind Bore and said, "Divine Maiden Dianxia, Zhang Ruochen is indeed disrupting the order of the Ten Realms Battle. How about I lead the sacred army right now to suppress him? Or perhaps we can take this opportunity to..."
Zhuo Yunong made a throat-slitting gesture.
Blood Butcher stood nearby, his heart tightening as he stared at Bore.
Bore's gaze was cold, and her aura burst forth. She said, "You do whatever Shang Zihong tells you to do? Can't you see this is using others to kill? It's clearly a case of borrowing a knife to kill."
Blood Butcher chimed in, "That's right, it's obviously borrowing a knife to kill."
"But can the Destiny Temple just let him cause trouble there? The Ten Realms Battle was initiated by the Destiny Temple; it is a serious and influential matter. If Zhang Ruochen's disruption affects the Hell Realm's plans, who will bear that responsibility?" Zhuo Yunong said.
The Judgment Department had always regarded Zhang Ruochen as a calamity for the Destiny Temple, wanting to eliminate him before he became a god.
Bore said, "Regardless, Zhang Ruochen is now considered a cultivator of the Hell Realm. If the Destiny Temple, because of a few words from Shang Zihong, spares no effort to deal with him, even if they can suppress or kill Zhang Ruochen, won't they be laughed at by the cultivators of the various Heavenly Court realms? And if they fail to suppress Zhang Ruochen, the joke will be even bigger."
Blood Butcher echoed, "Zhang Ruochen is a master of time and space; he fears siege battles the least. The sacred army might be able to defeat him, but to kill or suppress him, this emperor thinks it won't be an easy task."
"If the War God Emperor joins me in entering the sacred army's grand formation, we could suppress even a false god, let alone Zhang Ruochen," Zhuo Yunong said.
"Of course."
Blood Butcher said this with some self-satisfaction, but then thought of something and quickly waved his hand, saying, "But that won't work. The injuries from the battle with Zhen Yuan a few days ago haven't healed yet!"
Blood Butcher's injuries had, of course, already healed.
But he knew Zhang Ruochen very well, aware of how formidable this senior brother was. The fact that he had returned after a thousand years already made him uneasy. When he saw Zhang Ruochen severely wound Nan Sheng with a single sword strike, Blood Butcher became even more unsettled.
Zhuo Yunong wanted to drag him into dealing with Zhang Ruochen, which Blood Butcher felt was a bit of a trap, so he naturally declined, citing his injuries.
"This emperor is now a disciple of the Death God Venerable, a top-tier powerhouse. Why should I fear him? This emperor should fear nothing." Blood Butcher thought to himself, standing up straight with a resolute gaze.
The Destiny Temple did not act, but a sacred army from the Heavenly Palace had gathered.
This sacred army consisted of one hundred thousand half-saints, three thousand saints, six hundred saint kings, one hundred great saints, and three supreme realm great saints. They wore silver sacred armor, holding war bows forged from space sacred jade in one hand and talisman arrows in the other.
One hundred thousand bowstrings were drawn, and their bodies erupted with bright light, turning into a brilliant sea of stars.
The power of the one hundred thousand war bows, guided by the inscriptions, was completely linked together, causing space to suddenly collapse as if forming an invisible spatial bow, continuously absorbing the power of the surrounding heaven and earth.
The deterrent power of a sacred army could sometimes scare off false gods.
And an arrow-wielding sacred army was even more terrifying; even false gods dared not provoke them, for once provoked, they would have no chance to escape.
Zhang Ruochen sensed that he was locked onto by the Heavenly Palace's arrow-wielding sacred army. The space around him almost solidified, and a powerful oppressive force surged from all directions.
But, for some unknown reason, the arrow-wielding sacred army did not launch an attack, only maintaining their drawn-bow stance.
Shang Zihong frowned and looked toward the three supreme realm great saints in the arrow-wielding sacred army, showing a questioning expression. These three were the army commanders, two were demigods, and one was a peak demigod, all of whom Shang Zihong knew.
But none of the three commanders responded to him.
Zhang Ruochen seemed to have long anticipated this outcome, so he became even more arrogant, saying, "The Ten Realms Battle, I, Zhang Ruochen, must participate. No one can stop me."
"If you don't let me participate, I will fight. I will battle."
"I will fight until the Destiny Temple agrees, and battle until Hao Tian acknowledges it. If a god venerable of the Destiny Temple, or Hao Tian himself, disregards the prohibition that gods cannot interfere in mortal affairs and personally deals with me, then I will have nothing to say."
Zhang Ruochen pointed his finger at the Heavenly Palace's arrow-wielding sacred army and shouted, "Come on, shoot me! I, Zhang Ruochen, slay gods and demons across the nine heavens and ten earths, am immortal and indestructible throughout the six directions and eight wilds. How could I care about ants like you?"
The three commanders of the arrow-wielding sacred army were furious to the point of madness, wanting nothing more than to order Zhang Ruochen shot through.
But a war god-level figure had transmitted a message to them, ordering them not to act rashly.
The Ten Realms Battle had already seen nine matches, with the Heavenly Court winning only three.
In the final match, if Yin Yuan Chen and Que's battle ended in victory, the Heavenly Court's face would be somewhat saved. But if they lost, it would inevitably cause a huge blow to morale in the upcoming great war between the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm.
Zhang Ruochen jumping out to cause trouble was more beneficial than harmful to the Heavenly Court.
First, if Zhang Ruochen could truly defeat all the heroes of the world and seize all ten realms, then both the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm would be losers. Given the current situation where the Heavenly Court was already losing, they naturally hoped to see this result.
If both sides were losers, it would be equivalent to a draw, and the impact on morale would be equal.
Second, several of the ten realms were located at key strategic positions in the starry sky. Letting Zhang Ruochen become the Ten Realms Master was still better than having most of the great worlds fall into the hands of the Hell Realm.
Third, if Zhang Ruochen suffered a miserable defeat or died, the Heavenly Court would lose nothing, while the Hell Realm would lose a top-tier mortal figure.
Shang Zihong, being as clever as he was, realized the situation when he saw that the three commanders of the arrow-wielding sacred army did not respond.
Zhang Ruochen raised his voice and said, "Zihong, my son, your father heard that you also won a match in the Ten Realms Battle, so you are qualified to fight me. Come, come, come, don't be afraid. When I kill you, I will definitely give you a quick death."
Before he finished speaking, Zhang Ruochen had already swung his sword.
Shang Zihong was not affected by Zhang Ruochen's words. In fact, he hated Zhang Ruochen to the bone and wanted nothing more than to fight him to the death here. But he also knew that if he made a move and the battle erupted, it would be letting Zhang Ruochen have his way.
This left him conflicted inside!
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's sword slash toward him, Shang Zihong immediately used a divine ability, stepping sideways to dodge it.
"He can still endure this?"
Zhang Ruochen wondered if Shang Zihong had already achieved the state of enduring everything to become a Buddha. If he burned him, would he get a sarira?
While dodging Zhang Ruochen's attacks, Shang Zihong retreated toward the camp of cultivators from the various Heavenly Court realms.
"Shang Zihong, a thousand years ago, you were so proud and arrogant. Now, have you become spineless? Don't you even have the confidence to fight me?" Zhang Ruochen pursued relentlessly, attacking even faster.
Forced into a corner, Shang Zihong had no choice but to summon the Red Child Sword and passively defend against Zhang Ruochen's attacks.
Zhang Ruochen knew very well that to break Shang Zihong's state of mind, using Lian Xi as a trump card would be best. But he did not want to drag Lian Xi into this and use her as a tool.
If he did that, Lian Xi's situation in the Radiant Divine Temple and the Paradise Realm would become very difficult.
His grievances with Lian Xi had long been settled.
Shang Zihong could endure, but not all cultivators could.
Yin Yuan Chen stared at Zhang Ruochen's figure, his gaze cold and fierce.
A thousand years ago, losing to Zhang Ruochen had cost him the chance to be acknowledged by the cultivators of the Paradise Realm, preventing him from becoming the leader of the Paradise Realm faction. He could only hide alone in the darkness, a killer with a false name and false identity.
Yet Shang Zihong, whose cultivation and strength were inferior to his, could become a figure admired by the entire Paradise Realm faction, with saints following him, beauties adoring him, and countless friends.
A thousand years later, he thought the Red Dust Assembly was an opportunity, and the Ten Realms Battle was an opportunity to prove himself again, to step out of the dark corner into the sunlight, to be admired by the world's cultivators, to wield the power to command the entire Paradise Realm faction, and to obtain everything that should belong to him.
But on the Red Dust Archipelago, he had once again lost to Zhang Ruochen, and lost miserably, losing all face.
That feeling was like a lonely person walking in the darkness, finally seeing a glimmer of dawn, but taking a step forward only to fall into an abyss of ten thousand zhang.
Now, the chance to climb out of the abyss and walk out of the darkness was right before him. How could he miss it?
He wanted to defeat Zhang Ruochen and prove himself to the world's cultivators.
...
There will be another chapter tonight.